Little words of wisdom

 

Christmas Every Day: Day 1

image from Freepik

I was extremely organised over the weekend and got all our Christmas cards written, plus a gift parcelled up ~ I know, right, it's hard to believe I can be so organised, eh 😏

Anyhoo, whilst I was parcelling up said gift it occurred to me that over all the years that I've been doing this "Christmas-every-day" malarky (hereinafter known simply as CED 😉) for Beverly, I've never actually shown you the little bits and pieces that I gather together over the year that make up the CED.  Obviously I can't show you the gifts before they are wrapped, just on the off-chance that Beverly might take it into her head to actually read her mother's blog for once 😄  I can, though, share them with you once she has opened the gift-of-the-day, so that's what I'm going to do during this month.  Luckily I'll be able to purloin photos of said gifts from Beverly's Facebook page as she posts them each day ~ I'll probably post two or three days of the gifts at a time, though, so that I don't swamp the blog 😉

To be quite honest, I've been surprised by just how much her friends enjoy this rod-for-my-back tradition, and really seem to look forward to it each December!  Some of them have commented about how they really like the idea, but I confess that I've tried to discourage them from starting the tradition themselves unless they really love trying to think of 24 little things to buy each year 😄  Not quite so hard buying for a small child, I suppose, but definitely not quite so easy for an adult ~ especially trying to find little things that are reasonably priced, considering there will be 24 of them!

I try to remember to look out for suitable gifts over the course of the year, especially when we travel south.  This year, for instance, I was able to get a few bits 'n' bobs when we visited Sam in Leeds.  I try to aim for a mixture of things: practical, edible, and just simply decorative.  The "practical" stuff tends to be fancy toiletries, little items of kitchen paraphernalia, and just plain useful things.  The edible and decorative stuff varies from year-to-year, although I do try not to get too many purely decorative things if possible.  Of course the edibles can't be bought too far in advance!  By the time November rolls around, though, I usually know how many days I don't have anything for, so edibles fill those gaps very nicely.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering what we do for Sam, he gets two parcels of "edibles" every year 😏

One is a hamper of Orkney foodstuffs from Jollys of Orkney ~ I go for the make-your-own option.  This year I chose Orkney coffee (Jolly's blend), Orkney smoked cheddar (one cracked pepper, one sweet chilli, and the third red onion), smoked garlic bulbs, Orkney caramelised onion biscuits, Orkney butter shortbread, extra mature Orkney cheddar, Westray Chutney (spiced pepper), Orkney butter, Westray flakey biscuits, Stockan's mini oatcakes (one cracked black pepper, the other cheese), and finally Orkney Isles Preserves spicy tomato and onion relish.  As you can see, there's a LOT of cheeses in there ~ my son certainly does love a bit of cheese 😄  He loves Orkney butter, too, so I included three packs this year!

We also get him a selection of beers, sent down from the Orkney Brewery.  I'm afraid I can't tell you what he's had this year as Adrian arranged it and I can't remember now what he said he'd ordered!  Oh, and by the way, it's perfectly okay for me to tell you about the hamper and beer for Sam as firstly I don't think he's ever read my blog in his life, and secondly we arranged for them to be sent early this year (so that things weren't sold out, like the butter was last year by the time I'd got round to making up the hamper!) so he's already received them 😉

So, back to Christmas-Every-Day for Beverly.....she hasn't posted today's little gift yet but here's what she unwrapped yesterday:

Reading round-up: November 2025

image from Clipart Library

The Stoneware Monkey (a Dr Thorndyke novel - British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

Mr Polton Explains (a Dr Thorndyke novel - British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The Jacob Street Mystery (The Unconscious Witness) (a Dr Thorndyke novel - British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

OTHER NOVELS:

The Golden Pool: A Story of a Forgotten Mine: R. Austin Freeman

The Unwilling Adventurer: R. Austin Freeman

The Uttermost Farthing (A Savant's Vendetta): R. Austin Freeman

As you can see I have come to the end of the Dr Thorndyke novels and am now making my way through R. Austin Freeman's other offerings in this seemingly never-ending collection 😳  I must confess that I'm not enjoying these as much as I did the Dr Thorndyke books.  There are only three more left in the collection, nevertheless I think I may put them to one side for the time being and read something different!  I've recently bought a few new books, including the latest novels in two series that I really enjoy, so I'm very tempted to abandon poor old Mr Austin Freeman for pastures new ~ plus I still have a humungous pile of magazines to work my way through!   

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

Not a lot going on...

...mostly just crochet, to be honest 😏

I came down with a cold a couple of weeks back, and didn't start to really feel better until this last weekend.  It seems to have been just one "health" thing after another this year, although I shouldn't really complain about getting a cold I suppose.  I haven't had much energy so have kept myself occupied with crochet and reading!  

I've made good progress with Beverly's sweater, though, despite feeling sorry for myself 😉  I confess that I've been putting off sewing all the pieces together, but I really must get on with it.  Because of her shift patterns and no public transport on Christmas/Boxing Day, we won't be spending Christmas Day with her.  Instead we are having Christmas dinner early, on the 20th, which will be a combination of both Christmas and Adrian's birthday which is on the 18th December.  I'd really like to have the sweater finished by the 20th, so I really must stop procrastinating!

I also managed to surprise myself by getting Beverly's annual "Christmas-Every-Day" packages wrapped and numbered in very good time!  I didn't feel well enough to take the little packages over to hang them up this year, so instead I put them all in a very large Christmassy bag for her to take one out each day which Adrian delivered when he went over to Kirkwall last week.

 

I know it's a tad naughty but I've started another project, which has sidetracked me from the sweater 😄 I'm still trying to use up more of the leftovers stash, so pulled out an assortment of the colours that I have the most of to make a patchwork blanket.  It's a Dottie Angel pattern, her "ordinarily extraordinary blanket", which I have made before.  It's a simple pattern and grows satisfyingly quickly.  My squares are 23 stitches wide by 14 rows high which isn't as large as those in the original pattern, but I like the way these smaller squares look so "patchworky" ~ very satisfying 😊

In other news we've had our first proper snow of the season, which gave me the ideal excuse to continue hibernating 😏  Thankfully it didn't hang around too long but I expect we shall see more before next spring.

We've also been lighting our log-burner in the evenings.  It's so lovely, very cosy, and nice not to have to sit bundled up in thick cardigans/sweaters!  We were very thankful for having this extra source of heat last week when we had a power cut one evening.  It didn't last more than a couple of hours but it's amazing just how quickly the house cools down once the heating goes off 😳

 

Little words of wisdom

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

Little words of wisdom

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

Little words of wisdom

 

Remembrance...

image from Freepik

They shall not grow old,

as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

from his poem For the Fallen,

written in September 1914

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)